The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed criminal proceedings against cricketer MS Dhoni for being depicted as Lord Vishnu on a magazine cover.

Earlier, the court had asked MS Dhoni to appear before it on February 25. In 2013, a case filed against MS Dhoni for appearing on a magazine cover page as Lord Vishnu titled God of big deals.

In August 2015, the Karnataka High Court, after taking up the case, had observed: "A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the consequences of hurting religious sentiments of people. He should have known the consequences of doing such ads."

The complaint was filed by social activist Jayakumar Hiremath who had alleged that Dhoni was seen on the cover of a business magazine as Lord Vishnu, holding several things, including a shoe in his hands.